Published 4:00 am, Saturday, October 23, 2004

A Lafayette backpacking couple trapped in Sequoia National Park were safe and sound Friday after being rescued by a National Park Service helicopter from their chilly aerie in the wilderness.

Richard and Sandra Smith, ages 70 and 66, were located Thursday evening, several hours after 12 other Northern California hikers, in separate groups, were found and rescued from the snowed-in Sierra.

Search parties began looking for the Smiths on Thursday afternoon, shortly after their neighbor John Otto reported them missing. Experienced hikers, the Smiths had given Otto plans for their weeklong camping trip, told him what trails they would hike and asked him to call authorities if they were not heard from. After they were rescued, they telephoned Otto.

"They were happy as all get out," Otto said. "They were never in any real danger; if they could have walked out, they would have."

The Smiths were rescued just before nightfall would have grounded all helicopter search teams. According to Alexandra Picavet, a spokeswoman for the Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks, the helicopter searching for the Smiths had been told to land for the night.

As the helicopter headed for home, the crew "saw a yellow tarp (on the ground) and landed to find out what was going on," Picavet said.

The helicopter rescue workers "found a tent and an older couple who said, 'Can you get us out of here?' " Picavet said. "They walked out and hopped on the helicopter."

Meanwhile, a couple who died during stormy weather Tuesday or early Wednesday while climbing El Capitan in Yosemite National Park were identified as Ryoichi Yamamoto, 26, and Mariko Ryugo, 27, both of Hyogo, Japan. Mariposa County Sheriff and Coroner Jim Allen said the two had died of hypothermia.

Allen said that while they "were dressed in climbing gear, it's obvious they didn't expect the storm that was coming in." He said it appeared their jackets were not heavy enough, and "the area was wet and nasty" Tuesday night.

"There were a lot of circumstances that were unfortunate," Allen said.